Abstract: This thesis studies the development of the Christian Church in Lynn, Massachusetts from the 1791 founding of the state's first Methodist church to the close of the nineteenth century. The first chapter traces the outlines of the Congregationalist and Quaker religious foundations of Lynn coming in to the nineteenth century. The second chapter begins with Lynn's favorable reception of Methodist evangelist Jesse Lee in 1790-91. It portrays the burst of religious, political, and spiritual energy that accompanied Lynn's uniquely enthusiastic embrace of the Second Great Awakening and that gave shape to the Protestant church for the remainder of the century. Chapter Three acknowledges the primary role of industry-in particular the shoe industry-in the tremendous growth of the City of Lynn. It tries to follow the churches' relationship to business and to labor interests. The final chapter, covering the last decades of the nineteenth century, unfolds the rise of the Catholic and Episcopal churches, the continued trajectory of the Protestant churches, and the common circumstances and difficulties felt by both.